Baseball glove



Feb. 12, 1963 m. STEINMAN BASEBALL GLOVE Filed Jan. :5, 1961 IN V EN TOR.

05 V70 frt/NMHN m. 4 filelv y 3,ll7d,971 BASEBALL GLQVJ David @teinntan, 2161 Lai'ayette, Detroit, Mich. Filed .lan. 3, i961, tier. No. 86,664 2 (ill. 2 -19) The present invention relates to baseball gloves and more particularly to an improved construction for a basemans or fielders glove.

Heretofore in the construction of baseball gloves of this type the front cover and the bacl; cover have been so stitched together that in defining the ball receiving pocket and in fielding the ball it was possible to draw portions of the glove together between the thumb and little finger on the users hand.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved construction of glove whereby, not only may this be done, but at the same time the end portions of the fingers may be drawn towards the palm of the hand in a direction transverse to the first mentioned direction to thus define a more effective ball receiving pocket in the glove.

It is therefore a further object of the present invention to provide a novel back cover construction for the glove, which is suitably cut away rendering the glove more flexible and particularly in a direction transverse to the usual above mentioned folding of the glove and which permits the fingers of the user to be reverse curved towards the palm of the hand.

It is a further object of tr e present invention to provide a higher degree of flexibility between the rear and front covers of the glove and the provision of a separate tab upon the rear portion of the glove adapted for interlocking with the securing strap at the rear thereof, which tab is independently secured to the front cover and which does not in any manner restrain transverse folding of the finger of the glove towards the palm of the user.

These and other objects will be seen from the toilet ing specification and claims in conjunction with the appended drawing, in which:

FIG. 1 is a front elevation view of the present baseball glove.

FIG. 2 is a rear elevational view thereof.

FIG. 3 is a view corresponding to PEG. 1 taken from the end thereof and showing the finger portion revere folded towards the palm portion of the glove to illustrate its flexibility.

It will be understood that the above drawing illustrates merely a preferred embodiment of the invention and that other embodiments are contemplated within the scope of the claims hereinafter set forth.

Referring to the drawing, the present baseball glove is a baseball glove illustrative of the fielders glove, howev r, the same principle of construction is equally applicable for a basemans glove.

The present invention contemplates a glove assembly wherein a high degree of flexibility is achieved so that the fingers facing the palm of the glove may be reverse folded towards the palm. This is accomplished by the employment of a different assembly in the front and rear covers for the glove.

As shown in FIG. 1, the front cover, or palm side, is generally indicated at Ill and the back cover is indicated at 12., the two elements being peripherally stitched together, as indicated at 13, to define the respective fingers and complete glove assembly in a general fashion. The said glove includes the thumb finger 14 and the remaining fingers :5.

The primary change in the glove construction is applied to the rear cover thereof, as particularly shown in FIG. 2 and wherein it is noted that the rear cover 1?. remote from 3,b75,?l Patented Feb. 12, 1953 2 the finger tips is spaced longitudinally inward with respect to the rear edge of the front cover, as indicated at 17 with the end portion formed outwardly as at 16 to define the flexible tab 8, which is cut upwardly as new to thus define a free edge connecting portion of the front cover adjacent the beading 3d.

The cutaway portion 17 of the rear cover is reverse curved at 18 and 19 to define the conventional fastening tab 29, which extends across substantially the rear portion of the glove for engagement with the users wrist and terminates in the curved end 21 by which the said strap is fastened for use by fastener 2-7 projecting from the flexible tab 22.

The present flexible tab 22 which defines an important part of the present invention in lending to the glove a higher degree of flexibility, has a curved forward end 23, transversely slit at 24 to receive the end portion 21 of strap 2%.

The rear edge of the tab 22 has a series of eyelets 25 by W' ich the said tab is hingedly connected to rear edge portions or" the front cover as by the continuous strap or lacing 25.

in this connection, it is noted that the flexible tab 22 underlies the flexible tab 23, which forms a part of the rear cover 12, as above described.

in view of the flexibility provided in the rear cover 12, through the use of the flexible tab 28, cutaway as at 25%, and because of the separate interconnection of the strap 2% with respect to the tab 22, also flexibly connected to the front cover portion as at 26, it appears that the higher degree or" flexibility is achieved.

By this construction, therefore, it appears that while the user is free to draw the first finger and thumb towards each other in a conventional manner, at the same time he may draw the finger portion of the glove towards the palm, as indicated in PEG. 3. Though in use, the positioning of the parts would not be quite as extreme as shown in FZG. 3, this illustration is for the purpose of indicating the flexibility achieved in the present construction which represents a substantial and material advance in the art.

This was not possible in earlier gloves because the rear cover portion 12 normally extended all the way to the rear edge adjacent the wrist of the user and was fixedly secured to side portions of the front cover in a substantially fixed manner and clearly could not have the flexibility, which is produced by applicants cooperating tabs 22 and 23, as above described, particularly with respect to FIG. 2.

Having described my invention, reference should now be had to the following claims.

1 claim:

l. A baseball glove having a front cover and a rear cover joined together to form an upper finger covering portion, and the front cover being downwardly extended to form a palm covering portion, the rear cover being downwardly extended to form a lower portion which overlies the palm covering portion of the front cover beneath the thumb side of the glove and fastened to the edge of the front cover at the thumb side of the glove; a horizontally arranged, cross strap having an end integral with said rear cover lower portion at the thumb side of the glove and extending across the back of the wrist and being spaced a distance beneath the upper finger covering portion of the rear cover to form a transverse opening in the rear cover for exposing the back of the hand, the cross strap having its opposite, free end located near, but spaced from, the lower part of the little finger side of the glove; the improvement comprising a separate lower tab formed separate from the front and rear covers and forming a horizontally arranged bridge between the free end of the cross strap and the front cover at the little finger edge of 3 the glove; lacing fastening one end of the tab to the little finger edge of the front cover, and a fastener means removably connecting the opposite end of the tab to the free end of the cross strap, thus providing a hinge formation in the glove and overlying the upper edge only of said separate tab, the second tab portion being fastened to the front cover only at the little finger edge of the glove by the same lacing which fastens said separate tab to the front front cover extendin dia onally across the 211111 covering 5 cover little finger edge.

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portion thereof from approximately the upper edge of the tab, where it is fastened to said little finger edge of the front cover, to a point located between the thumb and index finger portions of the front cover.

2. A construction as defined in claim '1 and said rear cover including a second, integral, horizontally narrow, tab portion extending downwardly beneath the little finger portion of the rear cover at the little finger edge of the References (Iited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

1. A BASEBALL GLOVE HAVING A FRONT COVER AND A REAR COVER JOINED TOGETHER TO FORM AN UPPER FINGER COVERING PORTION, AND THE FRONT COVER BEING DOWNWARDLY EXTENDED TO FORM A PALM COVERING PORTION, THE REAR COVER BEING DOWNWARDLY EXTENDED TO FORM A LOWER PORTION WHICH OVERLIES THE PALM COVERING PORTION OF THE FRONT COVER BENEATH THE THUMB SIDE OF THE GLOVE AND FASTENED TO THE EDGE OF THE FRONT COVER AT THE THUMB SIDE OF THE GLOVE; A HORIZONTALLY ARRANGED, CROSS STRAP HAVING AN END INTEGRAL WITH SAID REAR COVER LOWER PORTION AT THE THUMB SIDE OF THE GLOVE AND EXTENDING ACROSS THE BACK OF THE WRIST AND BEING SPACED A DISTANCE BENEATH THE UPPER FINGER COVERING PORTION OF THE REAR COVER TO FORM A TRANSVERSE OPENING IN THE REAR COVER FOR EXPOSING THE BACK OF THE HAND, THE CROSS STRAP HAVING ITS OPPOSITE, FREE END LOCATED NEAR, BUT SPACED FROM, THE LOWER PART OF THE LITTLE FINGER SIDE OF THE GLOVE; THE IMPROVEMENT COMPRISING A SEPARATE LOWER TAB FORMED SEPARATE FROM THE FRONT AND REAR COVERS AND FORMING A HORIZONTALLY ARRANGED BRIDGE BETWEEN THE FREE END OF THE CROSS STRAP AND THE FRONT COVER AT THE LITTLE FINGER EDGE OF THE GLOVE; LACING FASTENING ONE END OF THE TAB TO THE LITTLE FINGER EDGE OF THE FRONT COVER, AND A FASTENER MEANS REMOVABLY CONNECTING THE OPPOSITE END OF THE TAB TO THE FREE END OF THE CROSS STRAP, THUS PROVIDING A HINGE FORMATION IN THE FRONT COVER EXTENDING DIAGONALLY ACROSS THE PALM COVERING PORTION THEREOF FROM APPROXIMATELY THE UPPER EDGE OF THE TAB, WHERE IT IS FASTENED TO SAID LITTLE FINGER EDGE OF THE FRONT COVER, TO A POINT LOCATED BETWEEN THE THUMB AND INDEX FINGER PORTIONS OF THE FRONT COVER. 